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Tag / the internet

Looks like Verisign really doesn’t care that ICANN came out against their SiteFinder b-s, nor do they seem to care that there are other companies out there who aren’t using some sort of monopoly power to redirect all traffic to their site. There’s a big difference between registering all the names yourself and redirecting to your site and just doing so because you can. Apparently, V/S doesn’t care and doesn’t seem to be budging on the subject. If you’re interested in topics like this, apparently there’s a service called ICANNWatch which is a blog type deal where you can read up on this stuff.

Verisign is going to get the big smackdown on this, I have a feeling. They keep quoting chapter and verse about how they’re basically masters of the universe, but even Al Gore didn’t go this far. And he INVENTED the Internet, don’tcha know.

CNET’s News.com is reporting that some broadband providers are beginning to put some sort of cap on how much bandwidth a user can crank through in a given month. The article specifically talks about a Comcast example, and goes into what some other providers are thinking about doing. This is obviously getting a big push with the peer-to-peer issue currently going on, as traffic has probably lowered a bit, but is still high. The statistic that is amazing is that 6 percent of Comcast’s users use up 78% of Comcast’s bandwidth, or so they are reporting. Forget 80/20 rule, that’s way out of line. I did like the attitudes of some of the people involved, such as SBC, who says that they “make whatever bandwidth they need (their customers) available to them.”

Looks like a Senior Special Agent at the Treasury Department has laid a bit of smackdown of his own on Verisign, which has been trashed across the Internet for the last week by users and pundits alike. You can check out the writeup and direct link to the article here at boingboing.

I’m glad someone who’s in the gov’t has finally made a statement about this – and what better way to do it than to praise the folks that created the fix for the webjacking that Verisign just pulled.

I’ve passed through waxy.org before, but haven’t really stuck with it for some reason. After seeing the last upcoming.org project they put together, I decided to read further, and found this great post about what ended up being, unfortunately, the first computer virus. WAYYYY back when UNIVAC was the machine to have (and no, most didn’t have one for obvious reasons), when John Walker was trying to come up with a new way to move game files around from machine to machine. Oops. An interesting history lesson for a Sunday, even if waxy.org did post it over a month and a half ago =)

Gizmodo.com posted earlier today about a new toy called the ISeePet, which allows you to check on your pet over the Internet, dispenses food or water at your command, no matter where you are – as long as you have a broadband connection. Click here for the full article about the item as reviewed by ABCNews’ TechTV folks. Oh, by the way, the ISeePet is only $500 and won’t come out until October of this year in the States. If you pamper your pet, this is something you need to do. Now I wonder if you can put up multiple ones in your house… Hmmm…

Looks like “Methlabs” has set up some software that effectively blocks all known RIAA IP ranges from your computer. The technology is called “PeerGuardian”, and apparently lags your computer bigtime… So if you’re into that sort of thing, check it out – I just heard about it moments ago.

[update 2] David Teather of The Guardian has dropped his recap on the recent “crackdown” that the RIAA has put forth on music downloaders. It’s interesting to see this quite late, considering the hubbub in the USA last week about all this.

Wanted to know what was going on where you are or where you’re going, and didn’t feel like looking at every local newspaper? Well perhaps upcoming.org is your ultimate solution. Just kicked in not too long ago, and has a pretty good layout and easy-to-get-on interface. Check it out – the more, the merrier, of course. [link via MetaFilter]

It seems that Verisign (our friends at Network Solutions, of course) has made it so any mistyped domain name that doesn’t go to someone scamming on another domain, will now go to their own “404” page. dejah420’s post over at MetaFilter makes the point that they’re now the largest cybersquatter. I’d have to say I agree. I don’t see how they can really do this and not have it be an issue. Pretty shady stuff, if you ask me. It’s almost as bad as people who hijack real URLs and make them go to spam or pr0n sites. leuschke.org tracks back and offers links at ICANN which you can contact with complaints and comments. Screw them. This is ridiculous. Next thing we’ll be hearing is that someone has the rights to one-click ordering. Oh, wait – that already happened.

And no, I’m not talking about Vanilla Ice’s old album. I’m talking about this story, where Bruce Schneier, CTO for Counterpane Internet Security Inc. (whom I previously quoted, unfortunately), thinks it might be a good idea to “test” Internet surfers before they can surf. This is all to stop the flow of viruses, downloading of music, et al. If this isn’t the biggest crock ever, I don’t know what is. If this were to happen, I don’t know where I’d want to move to, but it would be somewhere else. And you thought the PATRIOT Act was bad. I almost wish it were April Fool’s Day.